Widely recognised as one of Northern Ireland’s leading business consultants and foremost authority on brand communications, Grainne has many years’ experience across a diverse range of business sectors and a multitude of areas of expertise; business fixer, commercial director, brand and marketing expert and business champion, financially intuitive with strong business nous.

Beginning her career over 20 years ago in Diageo Worldwide, the world’s leading premium drinks business, she made a rapid and successful transition from Brand Assistant to Senior Brand Manager for Guinness. She directed many key initiatives across a range of drinks brands, delivering volume growth, strong commercial and market share performance.

Her senior tenure at the £2.5billion multinational company included a role as Marketing Manager for Guinness Ireland for four years and a one year secondment to drive key commercial initiatives in the burgeoning Guinness Africa territory. Grainne was the recipient of the prestigious Global Awards for Brand Building Excellence for the company that employs 20,000 people in 80 markets around the world.

From Diageo, Grainne joined British Bakeries a leading UK food business, progressing to the Board as Commercial Director, where she played a key role in the formation of subsidiary RHM Plc Ireland (formerly Rank Hovis McDougall) and led the creative integration of the Mother’s Pride and Ormo brands. With areas of responsibility including the development and amalgamation of a new strong integrated portfolio strategy, Grainne successfully placed the key brands in a growth position both in volume and value terms. She was credited with leading transformation and was a key member of the RHM marketing council with the goal of achieving marketing excellence consistently across the group. As a Member of the British Federation of Bakers and NI representative on the UK board, Grainne also worked on key issues such as marketing to children, obesity and general dietary health.

In 2005, in a highly planned and considered move, Grainne launched her own business consultancy, Vision Brand Consultancy. The business made its mark in the brand and marketing landscape in Northern Ireland, developing challenger brands such as the hugely successful Rankin Selection with celebrity chef Paul Rankin and championing brand development for a broad range of businesses.

The consultancy was firmly founded on Grainne’s belief that business owners of any size or variety can benefit from external help to identify challenges that may be hindering growth and opportunities that will deliver success.

The consultancy has evolved naturally since formation and in recognition that brand is so intrinsic to company strategy and cannot be viewed in isolation from business operations, became Vision Business Consultancy in 2014. Today, the service focuses on the broader requirements of growing businesses to include all aspects of business strategy including commercial performance, people, sales, marketing, product development and planning.

Grainne is genuinely passionate about her work, which has been a catalyst for transformation in some of the most challenging and fastest growing organisations in Northern Ireland. She is committed to the re-visioning of businesses and enjoys applying her own significant professional experience to help business owners across all sectors who are equally genuinely committed to real improvement.

Alongside her work in Vision Business Consultancy, Grainne is often called upon to help organisations and charities in a pro-bono capacity. She has helped to drive debate about business and brand advocacy and has been approached to write on the subject for a number of newspaper and business magazine articles over the years. Grainne’s contribution to the advancement of brand communication and marketing within the food and drink sector in Northern Ireland, led to her being asked to validate the new Agrifood Master’s Degree at Ulster University.